Trail Blazers or the Walking Wounded?

Posted Jan. 27, 2022

By Natalie Hebert

Staff Editor

The Trail Blazers have had a rough time this season.

First off, Jusuf Nurkic broke his leg back in 2019, then on Jan. 14 he fractured his right wrist in the third quarter against the Pacers. It was announced on Jan. 19 that Nurkic underwent wrist surgery and will be out for at least six weeks. On that timeline he will miss 23 games. Nurkic has been replaced by Kanter, who has averaged 10.5 points per game, while Nurkic has an average of 14.5 points.

Damian Lillard is also out for at least six weeks after having undergone surgery on Jan. 13 in Philadelphia to repair an injury that caused him chronic abdominal pain. Anfernee Simons is taking over for Lillard but has an average of 15.1 points per game while Lillard has an average of 24 points per game.

Then on Jan. 16, CJ McCullum suffered a small hairline fracture in his left foot and a mid-foot sprain when playing against the Hawks. It was announced on Jan. 19 that McCullum will be out for at least four weeks. On that timeline, he will miss at least 16 games. This follows his collapsed right lung back in Dec. against the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter. Rodney Hood is taking over for McCollum, but only averages 7.8 points per game while McCullum averages 19.

Other players, such as Norman Powell, Larry Nance Jr., and Cody Zeller, are also currently out. That makes two out of the five starters not on the court.

The Trail Blazers are currently tenth in the Western Conference as of Jan. 26; and have been stuck in tenth place since Jan. 19. That’s right, they have won 20 matches and have lost 27. Back in 2020-21, they stayed between fifth and seventh place in the conference for most of the year and finished in sixth place overall. Is the loss of all these players affecting their standing?